On Monday, Aug. 25, the site will become part of a broader collection of global legal coverage by parent publication The American Lawyer. In the run-up to that launch, The Asian Lawyer site will be on standby.

The hiring of former country managing partner Tony O’Malley and former corporate M&A head Timothy Blue comes as PwC and its Big Four accounting peers bulk up their legal teams in the Asia Pacific region.

*Linklaters advises on Hony Capital's $1.54 billion PizzaExpress acquisition*Skadden acts for Chinese e-commerce company Cogobuy on its $198 million Hong Kong IPO*WongPartnership represents Lend Lease on a new $729 million loan from DBS and OCBC

Linklaters is advising Chinese private equity outfit Hony Capital on its purchase of global restaurant chain PizzaExpress Ltd. from London-based Cinven Partners, which is being represented by Freshfields.

* Clifford Chance and Herbert Smith Freehills on Shell's $5.7 billion divestment from Woodside * Allen & Gledhill advising Alibaba on a proposed investment in Singapore's postal service* Jones Day guides a touchscreen chipmaker on a $598 million acquisition of a Japanese competitor